Cops: San Antonio woman groomed teens to be hookers

Published 11:45 am, Thursday, March 21, 2013

A prostitution sting has led to the arrest of a woman suspected of teaching two teenage girls how to charge money for sex and advertise the service online.

Undercover San Antonio police officers and FBI agents on Oct. 26 responded to an ad for sex on the website Backpage.com in which a girl, then 16, agreed to sleep with a detective for $220 at the Fiesta Inn and Suites in on Loop 410 between Callaghan and Evers roads.

When officers arrived, they detained the teen and a 13-year-old girl, both of whom had crack cocaine, an arrest warrant affidavit says.

The older girl told police she was taught how to be a prostitute by Jordann Depascalis, a woman she'd befriended after running away from home last spring.

Depascalis, 21, told the girls how much money to charge and instructed them to advertise "two sexy girl specials," a deal in which the clients could have sex with both for the price of one, the affidavit says.

The older girl, who turned 17 in December, told officers that while working with Despacalis, she was exposed to drugs, beaten and sexually assaulted by several people.

Before the prostitution sting, a patrol officer reported spotting Depascalis and the older victim on March 3, 2012, as they walked into a room at a Southwest Side Motel 6. The patrol officer knocked on the door and spoke with a man inside.

Depascalis was hiding behind the front door, the officer said.

The officer said he saw bags of drugs in the room, and found the girl hiding in the bathroom shower with another man.

The men, who were both arrested and charged with drug possession, told the officer that Depascalis and the girl were prostitutes.

The girl was found to be a missing person and was taken into custody. Her mother reported her as a runaway again on May 24.

Depascalis, who was has been in jail since earlier this month in an unrelated case, was charged with compelling prostitution Wednesday.

She remains jailed without bail, accused of violating the conditions of her release on a previous drug possession offense.